KINGSTON — When the snack food explodes, it’s time to go. Just ask any of the firefighters who entered the inferno that was Kingston’s Olympic Red Apple Market in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 30, 1990.
Though the flames were extinguished 20 years ago, no one who fought the fire or witnessed the smoldering remains will ever forget the sight of the town’s main shopping center blackened and gutted.
“I arrived just as the windows blew out,” recalled North Kitsap Fire and Rescue Chief Dan Smith, a Battalion Chief in 1990. “That meant a lot of fire and pressure inside. We went through an incredible amount of water that night; there was water and dry dog food running all the way down the highway to Sacks Feed. It was the biggest fire loss this district ever had.”
The blaze destroyed not only Red Apple Market, but Kingston’s post office, pharmacy, and liquor store just four days before the town’s much-anticipated centennial Fourth of July celebration. The Kingston Clinic and Upper Crust Bakery were closed due to water and smoke damage. Only the Kingston Laundromat at the complex’s far end remained untouched.
Just before midnight on June 29, a Sheriff’s deputy noticed smoke coming from the back of the market. Within minutes, fire engines arrived from Kingston, Hansville, Eglon, Suquamish, Poulsbo, and Silverdale. Even with more than 40 firefighters responding, the fire would not be fully extinguished until 9:30 a.m. the following day. For the men who entered the building, it was like walking into a furnace.
“Steve Criss and I were the first inside,” recalls former Eglon volunteer firefighter, Keith Beebe. “We crawled on the floor, pulling a charged waterline a couple of feet at a time. All the while we could hear popping and crackling big time in the back.
“There was black, hot tar goo dropping down like raindrops from the ceiling. We got about three feet up the first aisle when it all let go. There was a whoosh and a wall of fire rolled along the ceiling from the back to the front of the store. Then there was a sound like a jet engine, and I saw flaming Oreos; a whole stack of them at the end of the aisle went up. I shoved them over into the next aisle so they wouldn’t drop on us.”
Lying on the floor with a view beneath the racks, Beebe could see the flames running up one aisle and down another. Before he and Criss could go farther, their air tank alarms sounded, and it was time to get out.
Clear of the building, the two firefighters strapped on fresh tanks, but now the grocery was fully involved. The pair turned their attention to Apple Tree Pharmacy. The business was “pitch black and full of smoke,” according to Beebe, but not yet burning. At the request of pharmacist Quentin Gilman, Beebe entered the building to retrieve the computer records. Not wanting to waste time feeling around in the dark for the tiny backup tape, the firefighter cut the computer loose from its security moorings and dragged the entire unit from the store.
“Quentin was sure glad to see it, and for a year or so afterward people would stop me to thank me for saving their records,” said Beebe.
Few answers
Several of the night’s mysteries remain unsolved. For one, why did the blaze explode back to life after it was once brought under control?
“The main body of the fire was confined to the grocery and post office, and we’d stopped it,” said Smith. “We were starting the mop-up; an investigation team was in there discussing their plan of attack. There’d been no fire in the pharmacy, so we asked Puget Power to turn the power back on. As soon as it came on, there was a boom and a cloud of smoke from the back of the pharmacy, and the fire flared up. I still can’t tell you what caused it.”
However, there was no mystery about the cause of the fire. It was arson.
“Accelerant was poured down three aisles of the grocery store,” Smith said. “You could see from the burn pattern it targeted an aisle of picnic supplies — paper, briquettes, lighter fluid — as well as the roof’s structural supports. Arsonists have signatures, and this one used an accelerant with an unusual make-up and a huge fire-load.
“A federal task force was involved for a time because of the state liquor store and the post office. They suspected a professional arsonist from Canada. But the feds were pulled off to investigate some incident in Seattle, and the fire was never solved.”
Damage was estimated at $2 to 3 million. Fortunately, insurance covered the loss, allowing owner Rick Bjarson to rebuild in a major undertaking that involved the complete re-grading of the property. Nearly a year after the fire, Kingston residents — thoroughly weary of distant shopping trips — welcomed the opening of the new grocery. The Kingston IGA complex and Henery’s Hardware now stand on the old site.
Wendy Tweten is a longtime Kingston resident. She contributes to various home and garden publications and posts regularly at the Muck About gardening blog at http://muckabout.typepad.com. Contact her at wendy@wendytweten.com.
